Apply a small amount of product onto the back of your hand. Using a stippling or a flat-top foundation brush, apply to the areas that need coverage the most, using circular, sweeping motions to really blend it into your skin. Start applying in thin, light layers and build-up as necessary.

In the US, Max Factor products can be found in most drugstores, or online at Amazon. In the UK, check out your local Boots store.

With modern life being so hectic, and our lives just getting ever busier, it’s no surprise that there has been a real boom in beauty products that merge several products into one. Some might call it lazy, but I find it useful. Whilst everyone has been going absolutely gaga for B.B. Creams, I’ve been trying out Max Factor’s Ageless Elixir 2 in 1 Foundation and Serum.

WHAT I WAS EXPECTING:

Having naturally oily skin, I don’t have a very good reputation with liquid foundations. I tend to find that they are too heavy, and end up clogging up my pores, whilst leaving my skin looking and feeling absolutely awful. As a result I’ve kind of given liquid foundations a wide berth, instead opting for powder-based products. However, I decided to give this a try because it was new, it had a trial price (at time of purchase) and I’ve had a translucent finishing powder from Max Factor, in the past, that I loved.

WHAT YOU GET:

Not surprisingly, the packaging is pretty basic. It’s typical Max Factor in terms of colouring and overall style, whilst the overall bottle is typical liquid foundation. But, I definitely think that pump-action bottles are a great deal more efficient and user friendly to ones that you have to pour into your hand, and dribble all over the place (maybe I’m just messy?).

There’s nothing that really grabs me about the bottle. It’s a nice, handy size that fits quite well into most medium-sized bags, purses etc and you get a fair amount of product too, which is always good. I like the fact that although the label goes all the way around the bottle, the bottle is see-through meaning that if you look through it, at the bottom, you can see how much product you have used so far (the pump slowly rises as you use the product), so it’s good to be able to keep tabs on that.

SMELL:

I generally don’t tend to like the smell of face products. I usually think that they’re unnecessarily overpowering, which is a bit ridiculous for something that goes on and around the nose area. But I love the smell of this product. It’s a very delicate scent, kind of floral I guess and reminds me a lot of lightly scented moisturisers; the kind that don’t intoxicate your nose.

I think that this is the first time when I’ve actually enjoyed using a foundation because of its scent, but I really do like it.

APPLICATION:

As stated above, in the “How to use” tab, application is fairly standard. The reason for applying light layers is because this has been designed to offer good coverage. Here’s a rough idea of how much product you might use for each layer, but it’s just a small blob which doesn’t even need a full push of the pump:

When using a flat top brush, I always find it easier to dab the brush into the formula as it spreads the product out over the brush, which I feel offers a much more even application with most liquid foundations. So, this is what the liquid will look like on your hand:

I know that a lot of people also apply the product to their face in a similar way to this, with the dabbing effect. However, I really struggled to get the formula to blend properly with this action, which is even more important if the foundation isn’t a 100% perfect fit. For most of us, it’s hard to find the exact shade. For this reason, I found it easier to using rotating sweeping motions. But, even then I did find that it took quite a lot of blending. And I think that that is my biggest gripe with this product, because I felt like I was stood there for ages blending away, and then got paranoid that it wasn’t rubbed in well enough.

As you can see in this image, which is two thin coats, it covers the skin quite nicely, although if you look carefully at the ages, you can tell the difference between my hand and the colour of the product quite prominently, as it needs to be blended out a lot more.

Nevertheless, it has hidden my veins, and a couple of light moles that I have on the back of my hand, which is good.

What’s it like?

Following application, I instantly appreciated how light the product feels on the skin. So many other foundations always feel heavy, and make my skin feel disgusting. However, this product felt quite nice, and it felt like my skin could actually breathe, rather than suffocate underneath all of this gunk. As weird as it sounds, it sort of felt like it was moisturising the skin throughout the day, because on touch the surface of my face felt really smooth and nice.

The only downside is that I wish that it had a higher SPF, for something that applies to the delicate area of the face. This means, of course, that it’ll be best applied over the top of another product with SPF, such as a facial sun cream or moisturiser.

Recommended to:

Anyone who is looking for a fuller coverage, that is light on the skin.

Suitable for:

All skin types. The product is lightly moisturising but not at all greasy.